Directions: Read the excerpt below from A Full Description of the Great Tornado in Chester County, PA by Richard Darlington and then answer the questions.

The color and appearance of the storm cloud is worthy of consideration. By some who viewed it as it passed along, it is represented as being an immense balloon, extending to the height of several hundred feet, spreading out at the top, forming a funnel. It moved along at times with great rapidity, and at other times it seemed to halt, as if gathering strength for another effort. The color was variegated, with the whole presenting rather a luminous appearance. Missiles of every kind could be distinctly seen in and through the body of the cloud. At first sight it seemed to be a barn on fire—the burning embers flying in every direction, but a closer inspection proved it not to be fire but dirt and hay and timbers intermingled with leaves and other light substances giving it the
appearance of an immense wind storm which was the correct conclusion. Those who had a side view of the cloud state that it was quite light in appearance as it passed over grass fields and timber tracts, but when it reached a plowed field or a potato patch, it gathered up the dirt and loose
material and became a very dark mass of matter and presented a frightful appearance as it traveled forward with a velocity of a mile in four or five minutes. Such was its character as it approached the village of Ercildoun.

Jos. Brinton, who resides at Newlin's station, on the Penn'a and Delaware Rail Road, states that he observed the storm carefully as it came from the west. He was standing on his barn bridge at the time and on looking over the high hill at the west of his residence his eyes were directed to a point just above the funnel of the cloud. He saw the clouds rise up at the circumference to a great height, and then pour over into the central cavity from all sides. This continued for some time. The funnel next appeared in full view after the space of ten minutes. Then the body of a tree appeared above. It appeared motionless and grew larger and larger as the cloud approached—the tree being carried with the storm. Finally, it disappeared. The body of the storm cloud was now full of missiles having the appearance of millions of birds sailing through the air with the whole moving mass being of a very dark color. As it moved forward, these missiles were discharged in every direction. The conical column now became very tall and was of a white color in appearance not unlike the under cloud of a great rain storm. As clouds of smoke and dirt rolled up through the mass and were carried around by the rotary motion, the appearance was that of an immense building on fire. He pronounces the sight to have been awfully grand and terrible beyond description.

Note

Only spelling mistakes, if any, in the above passage have been corrected. No other corrections, including grammatical, have been made so that the originality of the passage is maintained.